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SUPPORTING ETHNIC STUDIES, UA STUDENTS DISRUPT TUSD BOARD PRESIDENT STEGEMAN’S UA LECTURE COURSE
For their Action, UA Students Receive Support from the CA-Prosecuted Student Group ‘Irvine 11’

Media Contacts:
Lisette Barragan: 520-406-1917 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gabriel Matthew Schivone: 520-302-6006 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Luz Vogel: 602-904-0933 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Casey Wollschlaeger: 503-201-5011 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


TUCSON AZ (May 3) – Early this morning, a group of University of Arizona (UA) students and supporters disrupted UA Professor and TUSD Board President Mark Stegeman’s UA lecture course in a drastic move to draw attention to the TUSD Board’s fateful vote tonight on Ethnic Studies, led by Stegeman.  Dr. Stegeman’s divisive resolution aims to turn Mexican American Studies (MAS) into an elective, complying with the state’s Ethnic Studies ban and effectively ending the program as a core class for students.  Coinciding with their action in Stegeman’s class, the group received a solidarity statement by a member of a University of California (UC) student group, which led a similar action last year on the issue of Palestinian rights and which is currently being prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney on public disruption and conspiracy charges.

In a dramatic demonstration of solidarity with high school students whose education will be directly affected by the vote, the group of UA students and supporters -- acting individually with no organization affiliation -- furtively entered Stegeman’s 400-undergraduate lecture course on “Basic Economics Issues” in Harvill Building Rm. 150, and one-by-one stood up during his lecture to ask him critical questions and to inform and engage his students about Ethnic Studies and Stegeman’s role in facilitating its removal from Tucson schools.  Dr. Stegeman evaded any questioning.

Before the class hundreds of Stegeman’s students were given information flyers which ran the headline, “Why Is Your Professor Trying to Dismantle Ethnic Studies?”  Answerig the question, the flyer provided background information and context of the Ethnic Studies ban, outlined Stegeman’s role, and urged his students to “[t]ell Dr. Stegeman that UofA students stand in solidarity with Tucson high school students. Tell him you oppose his disingenuous attempt to destroy ethnic studies.”  At the same time, the flyers displayed a profile photo of Stegeman with the gingerly caption, “Don’t Trust Me.”  The flyer also urged students to join the youth-led effort directed at tonight’s 5:30pm Board Meeting at the TUSD administrative offices just south of campus. 

The action culminated when one of the organizers of the action, Mathew Johnson, stridently declared that Stegeman’s course “is now an elective,” informing the rest of the class they were free to stay but would not receive credit.  Around two dozen students, including some of Stegeman’s own, walked out of the course chanting “Our Education is Under Attack: What Do We Do? -- Fight Back!”  Students then proceeded to flood Stegeman’s office in McClelland Hall with flyers, handing them out to peers and students they met.

Students and supporters said they used the tactic of petty disruption to show they are upholding the U.S. Constitution with respect to its article on international treaties, which they point out makes the Ethnic Studies ban (HB2281) illegal and illegitimate.  UA No Más Muertes coordinator, Gabriel Matthew Schivone, who was present as a witness and supporter of his fellow students’ actions, stated:  “The students’ direct educational action this morning demonstrated that Stegeman is not above criticism in his role as a public educator nor is he safe from such criticism in his workplace, in full view of his peer faculty and students.  I suspect Stegeman and his constituents will continue to be called out onto the carpet for their individual roles in perpetuating violations of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights article on education, which the U.S. Constitution regards as the “supreme Law of the Land.”  UA Psychology sophomore, Lisette Barraggan, who was also present as a witness, talked with students in the class sitting behind her who were wondering why the issue was important and then gave their support when they learned what it was all about.
 
This is not the first time that students undertook a tactic of disrupting a public space and targeting individuals -- and the abhorrent policies they serve and represent -- in order to expose and condemn international human rights violations.  In February 2010, students from University of California universities, Irvine and Riverside, led an action that disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech at UC Irvine.  11 Irvine and Riverside students stood up one-by-one during the talk to denounce Oren as a war criminal implicated in Israel’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinians living under US-backed Israeli occupation, including the 2008-09 assault on Gaza that killed 1400 Palestinians, many of them women and children.  The students were arrested and their group, Muslim Student Union (MSU), was suspended by UC Irvine for the fall 2010 semester.  This February, the Orange County District Attorney’s office announced its prosecution against the 11 students for disruption, and conspiracy to disrupt, a public meeting.  Last month, the Irvine 11 pleaded not guilty, emphasizing their claim to free speech.  The trial will resume this month, according to the LA Times.

One of the Irvine 11, UC Riverside Political Science senior, Taher Herzallah, gave a statement by telephone on the students’ actions this morning and on the Ethnic Studies struggle in general: “What the state and [TUSD] administration is imposing is an injustice to the intellectual hunger and cultural needs of students.  And I urge all students who are passionate about and dedicated to their education…to continue to engage in civil disobedience until their demands are met.”  Herzallah continued: “Erasing history from books is more dangerous than not taking kids to school.  And the students maintaining their Ethnic Studies programs at all costs can stop this disease before it spreads to other states.  My best of luck and solidarity to you all, and I hope we hear some good news tonight.”

Some in the course were confused why the students were bringing up the issue of Ethnic Studies in an Economics course.  In response, students point to best-selling author and UA honored guest, Dr. Cornel West, in his April 28 open letter to the UofA in which he implicated UA-partner corporations profiting from the “treachery targeting our youth’s future.”

One of the questioners, UA student Luz Vogel, responding to accusations that what the students were doing was “uncivil”, said: “I think it’s quite rich to expect students to obey ‘Emily Post’s Rules of Etiquette’ when state educators, who are bound by law to safeguard and preserve the youth’s education, are in fact minimizing and destroying it.”

Responding to similar criticism, Schivone defended the action further: “Well, if there were courts for people like Stegeman, Horne, Pedicone, Huppenthal, Brewer, Pierce, Oren, etc., then the students wouldn’t need to take these measures to expose individual criminality and advocate for basic human rights when every Arizona governmental institution -- including their own Tucson district offices! -- are not supporting them.”